Skelton: You can love and control guns

Rep. Mike Thompson served in Vietnam as an Army infantryman and he carried an assault weapon. But he doesn’t want to see people carrying them around his California district.

“If I never see another one, it’ll be too soon,” he said.

Thompson, a moderate Democrat from St. Helena and a lifelong shooter, backed a proposed ban on assault weapons that stalled in the U.S. Senate.

In Thursday's column, George Skelton says Thompson has struck a good balance between respecting the rights of gun owners and recognizing the need for government regulation.

“My philosophy is it’s not gun control, but gun violence prevention,” Thompson said. “We ought to have reasonable laws that protect the 2nd Amendment and keep our communities safe, and I think we can do both.”